ive just bought an 82 343 from the local scrapyard its a really clean car, one owner and only 40k on the clock, only problem is that its got no compression on 3 cylinders. i haven't had time to take the head of yet but was wondering if this age of car was meant to be run on 4 star? if it was think its probably burnt its valve seats out, it was owned by an old woman who scraped it when it stopped going. with it only being a 1.4 i was thinking of changing the engine. did i say i worked at the scrapyard? so ive been looking at 1.7s and what i think are 2L in 360s are these a straight forward swap or is there any engines i should avoid or any problems i should expect? any help would be brilliant, this is the first volvo ive played with, i'm a total dub geek so know my way around engines reasonably well!

2.0 would mean that you need to replace whole driveline, with 1.7 I have heard situation is bit easier, I think there was some discussion going here recently about this subject, finding it is a problem.

1.4 might get car around pretty ok, if tuned a bit?

Wow nice find, need to start finding cars like these myself

Good one

As above, don't discount the 1.4. It's a different experience to the 1.7 lump, but not necessarily worse. Give it some revs and it goes pretty well, plus the lighter engine makes for a nimbler feel.

An '82 343 is great, if it has the older type dash that's one of the most desirable 300's IMHO. If the engine is giving you problems, source another 1.4 and possibly a 5 speed box for better acceleration and lower revs on the motorway (plenty of info on this site for that, just do a search). It was originally meant to run on 4-star but those engines can take 98 RON super-unleaded without the need for any additives.

Colour, trim level, maybe some pics ?

Tom

trabitom99 wrote:An '82 343 is great, if it has the older type dash that's one of the most desirable 300's IMHO. If the engine is giving you problems, source another 1.4 and possibly a 5 speed box for better acceleration and lower revs on the motorway (plenty of info on this site for that, just do a search). It was originally meant to run on 4-star but those engines can take 98 RON super-unleaded without the need for any additives.

Colour, trim level, maybe some pics ?

Tom

thanks, it does have an old dash in it, i took the head of today and found a bit of number 1 piston missing? got me confussed, its scored the bore really badly so a new engine is looking like a certanty. ive found a 1.4 in the scrapyard so will probably follow your advice a fit that. i'll put some pics up as soon as i work out how to do it!! its light blue and fairly basic though. i dont know enough about them to know the differences yet.

patch79 wrote:

trabitom99 wrote:An '82 343 is great, if it has the older type dash that's one of the most desirable 300's IMHO. If the engine is giving you problems, source another 1.4 and possibly a 5 speed box for better acceleration and lower revs on the motorway (plenty of info on this site for that, just do a search). It was originally meant to run on 4-star but those engines can take 98 RON super-unleaded without the need for any additives.

Colour, trim level, maybe some pics ?

Tom

thanks, it does have an old dash in it, i took the head of today and found a bit of number 1 piston missing? got me confussed, its scored the bore really badly so a new engine is looking like a certanty. ive found a 1.4 in the scrapyard so will probably follow your advice a fit that. i'll put some pics up as soon as i work out how to do it!! its light blue and fairly basic though. i dont know enough about them to know the differences yet.

just thought, i have been told you can put a renault head on the 1.4 which will run on unleaded any idea if this is true?

thanks everyone is saying stick with the 1.4. there must be some truth in it so i'm probably going to just replace it with a good one.

Hi!

patch79 wrote:just thought, i have been told you can put a renault head on the 1.4 which will run on unleaded any idea if this is true?

Yours already can run on unleaded - but the more expensive super unleaded. It will run on regular if you retard the ignition, but maybe someone else around here knows more about that ...

Tom

trabitom99 wrote:Hi!
Yours already can run on unleaded - but the more expensive super unleaded. It will run on regular if you retard the ignition, but maybe someone else around here knows more about that ...

Tom

With retarded timing it will then drink more of that expensive elixir, also car will be slower, I don't really see much gain using regular over super. Maybe with very gentle foot one can get some saving, but it hardly is worth all trouble, imo.

Alpine head in other hand...

I would swap in a complete replacement 1.4. If you find a late-model (87+?) unit, this is lower compression and designed to run on 95 octane. Earlier cars have higher compression and more ignition timing, and are designed for 96/97 octane 4-star, and will pink a bit on 95.

I'd keep the 1.4, then swap in a 5 speed box from a later car. 5 speed 1.4s go ok, are pretty fuel efficient (bearing in mind the size of the car...they're a lot bigger than they look!) and are in the cheaper road tax band.

If you still want more, you can always swap in a 1.7 later, or even a Renault 16v unit. All 340 engines (for the UK market) are Renault units.

cheers

James

thanks, ive been given a 1.4 renault 5 engine which seems to be exactly the same. its out of an n reg car so will run on 95 octane fuel, just hope i haven't set my self up for any anoying problems by noy using a volvo engine. you cant say no to a gift though!

You should be ok as long as you swap any obviously different parts over - sump, etc.

cheers

James

Can't argue with that at all, you're probably one of a very few doing that kind of swap though! But can't see why it wouldn't work. Was a R5 of that era fuel injected?

Yeah, as everybody else has said much rather swap an entire engine rather than the head on its own. Getting the heads off those cars without disturbing the wet liners is a real PITA and can lead to all sorts of problems if you don't follow the correct procedures.